We all realise that the World economy is facing challenging times. Banks collapsing, housing markets stagnated or falling, the threat of a double dip recession and even entire countries possibly defaulting on their debts.

This kind of scenario is not unique in history, though it is without doubt that this particular recession is longer lasting and potentially more damaging than just about any other in living memory since it threatens the whole World rather than one or several countries.

Historically we know that training and development of staff are often cut in such times since they may be regarded as less critical to the business.
An alternative view is that without ongoing training and development of staff there are a number of costs that the company may have to pay and ultimately these costs must be weighed against the cost of carrying out the T&D.

A few "hidden" costs:

The cost of losing or demoralising staff: Staff may be tempted to move on if they feel their careers are not being advanced. T&D is a key factor in showing staff they are valued! This is somewhat counterbalanced by the argument that staff will not give up a safe job for potential rewards elsewhere during hard times, however, good staff will ALWAYS be in demand and retirement of staff is also a factor when facing a long term recession.

The cost of diminishing quality: As staff training is ignored and experienced personnel move on, so there is a danger that quality standards in the company will be lowered. Lower quality directly relates to increased complaints and faulty products which take time and money to rectify. Loss of image is also extremely difficult to turnaround in the short to medium term. Customer confidence is very easily dented and slow to return in much the same way that a sports persons confidence is generally far easier to lower than to raise - one bad result even after a string of good results can have profound effects. 

As with most things in life, you only get rewards when you put in effort. Many times I hear people complain that they aren't where they want to be in life and when I ask what they have done to get there they realise that their effort has not been sufficient!

Try to define some goals for yourself and write them down or tell someone about them as this helps us to stick to them. Then look at what you are doing or will do to achieve them. Often "routine" is something we all accept and eventually become comfortable with but "routine" rarely allows us to grow and develop. Having goals and working towards them is a routine breaker. 

Wrapping yourself in a comfortable routine is like grabbing an extra five minutes in bed in the morning. It feels nice at the time but ultimately leaves you with less time to achieve what you really want.

Of course, life must be a balance though. The old saying "work hard, play hard" springs to mind and is as relevant today (maybe even more so) as ever.

Coaching tip of the day: Question, question, question. Find the problem before the solution!